Now Then, Now Then.


These days, the Now! series isn't even trying.


When it comes to choosing compilation album content, that title doesn’t whittle things down. Anything with a basic verse / chorus structure and a running time of around two to six minutes falls under its criterion. It’s not a sign of quality. It also gives you no inkling as to what you’ll get. You could wind up with UB40’s Red Red Wine* recurring fifty-seven times, and no-one wants that.

(...except for Neil Diamond, who’d be quids-in.)

The franchise lost their way years ago. They’ve released 89 of their standard collections, plus a whole host of variants, from 'Now That’s What I Call Running' to 'Now That’s What I Call Drive'. That last one doesn’t even work. To whom does the personal pronoun in each title refer anyway? Is it Mark Goodier, or that pig on the early front covers? Answers on a postcard, marked Now That’s What I Call Bullshit. 

*The most recent number one I could come up with.

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